John Hook

John Hook is the president of The Hook Group, a local management consulting firm, and active in several nonprofit organizations. Previously John spent 25 years in executive, management and marketing positions with regional and national firms. John lives in Ferguson Township with his wife Jackie and their two children.

Articles by John Hook

I’ve found myself mentally reciting the lyrics whenever it randomly pops up on my cell phone playlist. In many cases it’s saddening how the lyrics – penned over a half-century ago – still resonate today. [Read More]

I’m forever amused when people use that caveat in conversation. Because what are you saying when you start a sentence with “To be honest with you?” When you interject that colloquialism into a conversation, the larger context is that everything else you’ve said is a lie. [Read More]

What are we going to do? This coming Sunday is the beginning of the drought. What drought, you ask? The sports watching drought. Now, you may be thinking, there are plenty of sports to watch on television during the next several months. We can watch those sports, but in comparison to football, we do [Read More]

When arguably the greatest wrestler in American history, who's also on an amazing run of success as a head coach, says that something which would make wrestling better isn’t talked about enough, then every red-blooded wrestling fan in this country ought to start talking about it. [Read More]

If you are someone who makes New Year’s resolutions, it’s what you are probably doing now in March to justify why you have not kept them. Usually in January and maybe February you can continue whatever inconvenience or change in your daily life the resolution caused, but after time it gets harde [Read More]

We are a happy bunch of people in Happy Valley. We raise money for worthwhile causes and we put up signs welcoming everyone who moves here and we get great scores for our efforts in equality. On paper we’re pretty darn good neighbors. Except for, well, one or two or three little issues. [Read More]

More lighted fields are long overdue and thankfully coming to State College Area School District. But the addition of lights at the South Track field hit a snag when brought before Planning Commission and met with questions and commentary far afield from the issue at hand. [Read More]

In Happy Valley, airline travel in the 21st Century means an airport with a baggage carousel, three airlines, a control tower and a place to buy coffee, sandwiches and souvenirs. It doesn’t have jetways yet, so we still have to deal with the elements between the terminal building and the plane, bu [Read More]

Communication — the imparting or exchanging of information or news. Sounds like an important piece of life doesn’t it? Exchanging information is essential to our learning process. Without communication we’re pretty much left to figure out the world for ourselves. And a cold, cruel world it can [Read More]